Total sponsored research expenditures at the University of Missouri-Columbia reached a major milestone in FY 2003, surpassing for the first time the $117 million mark.

As in previous years, faculty scientists and scholars working in medicine, agriculture, arts and sciences and engineering accounted for slightly more than 75 percent of spending. Expenditures generated from federal sources -- most as a result of competitive grants -- accounted for most of FY 2003 sponsored research funding, an increase of slightly more than 20 percent above last year's record high.

These gains have helped to sustain what has been a dramatic pattern of growth in sponsored program expenditures over the past six years. "This growth is a credit to our faculty and also represents a significant return on the state's investment in the University's mission enhancement process," says Mike Warnock, director of MU sponsored programs. "In addition to the knowledge generated through these projects, funds provided for their support yields critical economic benefits to the people of Missouri."

Among these benefits is job creation. Analysis using a rigorous economic impact model for FY 2003 data shows that research and development expenditures at MU supported some 8,000 Missouri jobs and contributed more than $300 million to the state's economic development. And MU is not just helping to create and sustain employment: We are training the next generation of professionals to fill these jobs. Today more and more MU students are engaged in research experiences that will give them the skills they need to fill high-tech positions. The majority of these students will choose to live and work in Missouri. Mission enhancement, particularly in life sciences, has also encouraged partnerships with industry. These include a recent $2 million gift from Monsanto to fund the purchase of equipment for MU's new Life Sciences Center and a gift from the Missouri Soybean Association that will create three endowed chairs in plant biology.